A crash course in ballpark advertising

It’s generally a good thing for a ballpark advertiser when its outfield billboard gets lots of time on camera. But how about when a home-team outfielder is lying unconscious in front of it? If the Belterra Casino Resort & Spa gets an upsurge of business this week, we’ll know the answer. In a Pirates-Reds game in Cincinnati on Monday, Reds outfielder Ryan Freel collided with teammate Norris Hopper as both were chasing a fly ball to the warning track. Freel then lay unconscious at the base of the fence, right in front of the Belterra billboard, before being carried off on a stretcher after a 13-minute delay to the game. (Freel is now out of the hospital and on the 15-day disabled list.) Look at the video and you’ll see he’s lucky if no lasting damage was done. The Belterra ought to hire him as celebrity endorser when he’s on his feet again.